breasartandpublicplaces
breasartandpublicplaces
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Oct 30, 2016 (9 years) |
- | 2 | 2 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Oct 30, 2016 (9 years)
- Last activity
- -
- Topics created
- 2
- Replies created
- 2
Bio
Back in 1947 my lady Dena Sommer and I, Terry Sullivan, moved with our respective families to the city of Brea, California. She and I first met in 1950 on the Laurel Elementary School kindergarten playground. We went to Brea schools together from K-12, followed by two years of college in nearby Fullerton, CA.
Fast forward 43 years, having not seen each other since 1965, we were reunited at our high school classes' 45th reunion and soon thereafter we became a couple. In 2009 we started taking photos of Brea's many Art in Public Places pieces. Our quest has gone far beyond the hobby stage; it's nothing short of a full-blown obsession! We've had many hours of enjoyment, not to mention a few occasional moments of frustration, taking and then organizing these photos into what has evolved into this beautiful slideshow.
Despite having a population of only 42,000 people, the city of Brea touts itself as having one of the largest collections of public art of any city in the entire United States. So far, the only city we're aware of that has a larger number of art pieces in its collection is the city of Seattle, Washington.
Brea's Art in Public Places program was founded in 1975. At that time any business that wanted to develop a commercial property with an assessed valuation of $500,000 or more was required by the city of Brea to sponsor an art piece on that property. In later years, due to inflation, coupled with Brea's increasing desirability as a place to do business, the assessed valuation was increased to $1,500,000. These businesses were additionally required to fund their art piece at a rate of at least 1% of the value of the development.
Dena and I can only hope that you enjoy viewing this beautiful collection of art as much as we are to present it to you.
Terry Sullivan and Dena Sommer
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